Drivers: Use caution

Although winds died down offering drivers more visibility, crews were out working to clean up drifts along county roads Tuesday morning.

Emmet County Road Commission engineer/manager, Brian Gutowski, said today, Tuesday, will be a good catch up day for the commission.

“The roads aren’t too bad today. There are drifted areas on most routes and basically the whole crew is out pushing back banks in areas that typically drift and at most intersections,” he said.

Even though Gutowski said good visibility was expected throughout the day, he urged drivers to use caution when driving.

“If there are yellow lights flashing ahead, chances are it is a road commission truck clearing the roadway so do your best to stay clear of the trucks,” he said. “The locals know where the drifted areas are. Take it slower today because there could be areas with a little bit of drift across the road.”

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Dave Lawrence, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said Northern Michigan residents and visitors can expect some flurries and a little cloud cover today, with temperatures ranging between the low to mid-20s around the area.

“It will be a basic December day,” he said.

A light system will move through the region Wednesday into Thursday bringing an “inch or so to freshen everything up.”

Lawrence said along with the light dusting will be a break in temperatures.

“We do warm up a little bit on Wednesday and Thursday with highs near freezing, but they will not last,” he said. “Very late this week and through the weekend a cold front will work its way in bringing temperatures from the mid to upper-teens to lower-20s. We may also see some light snow showers through the area — not a lot of snow but it will definitely be much colder.”

Sergeant Jerry Briolat with the Michigan State Police Post in Petoskey said the roads are in pretty good shape and it looks like it’s going to be a quiet day in Northern Michigan.

“We haven’t had much activity today compared to yesterday,” he said. “There is drifting on north and south roads and areas of large clumps of snow that might catch you off guard but most main roads are clear. Be careful on secondary north south roads but traffic is moving pretty well this morning.”

With fewer accidents so far this year, Briolat said people have gotten a little wiser about driving.

“There’s not as much volume on the roads and people are being more cautious,” he said.

When the weather is bad, Briolat said the post gets a lot of calls with people asking how the roads are from point “a” to point “b.”

“People need to use common sense. Drive slower, give yourself more time and allow more room between you and the car in front of you.”